Untarnished
by ollia
Summary: Oneshot following "Awakening". Madara gets a chance to meet Komachi once again.


**AN:** This story is a oneshot following the plot of "Awakening". It is a prompt from Marquise de Nile, who wanted some Madara + Komachi + Edo Tensei (with guest appearance of Tobirama if possible). I hope you like it, Nile!

* * *

"How did you get your filthy hands on her?"

In the first moment Madara really thought it was her. The female figure dressed in simple, dark robe that stood in the middle of Tobirama's lab had Komachi's face. Her hair, posture, shape was that of Komachi as well. But the skin was covered in cracks, it looked like that of a corpse, of a dried-out corpse… And the eyes were all wrong, the black of irises lost between the macabre blackness of the sclera. Madara had never seen something like that. Whatever it was that the younger Senju had just achieved, it was an abomination first and foremost.

But Tobirama saw already what kind of impression it had on him. And he wouldn't hold back. "Oh, I wanted someone of value to you… I couldn't find Izuna's corpse…"

Madara thanked all the gods for having put so much care into burning his brother's remains.

"I thought about your parents, but from what Hashirama says you weren't close with them. Then I dug out that boy, Izuna's friend… Wariku? Or something like that."

"And he told you?!"

"He didn't want at the beginning. But then I worked on my jutsu some more and developed a useful extension. It allows me to override the will of the summoned. And then he told me. Everything he knew."

Blood boiled in Madara's veins.

"And then I found bloodied woman's clothing in your quarters and just gave it a try." Tobirama unfolded his arms with a smile of true joy. "Now she will do whatever I tell her," he mused. "Let's give it a try, shall we? What's your name?" he asked turning to the female figure.

"Komachi," answered the figure in Komachi's voice.

"Did you know this man?" Tobirama pointed to Madara.

"Yes."

"Did you love him?"

The figure's eyes were glassy; her, or its, face expressionless. "No."

Tobirama jerked in surprise, caught off guard. It wasn't the statement he expected, smirked Madara internally. _'He must be reassessing if and how his jutsu worked,'_ he thought. At least that disaster of relationship that they had proved to be good for something. It bought him some time to gather his wits.

"A doll. It's nothing but a doll," managed Madara in a relatively impassionate voice. The sooner he convinces Tobirama that the presence of this thing had no impact on him, the sooner the Senju will release whatever essence of Komachi was bound to the corpse back to the afterlife.

"Oh, well, I'll give her the full access to her will and we'll see what you'll say then." Tobirama seemed recovered from the initial blow. He weaved several quick seals and the figure shuddered.

Slowly, she lifted up her hands, moved the fingers, turned her palms up and examined them, horror rising on her face. Then she turned around taking in her surroundings. When she noticed Madara her face changed. He thought he saw a relief there. But maybe he only imagined it.

"Madara… where am I?" Her voice was rough, as if coming out with great difficulty, but still, unmistakably that of Komachi.

What was he supposed to say? She wasn't asking the geographical location. "You've been summoned back onto this world. Through the means of a jutsu."

"Are there jutsus like that?!" she exclaimed in shock. "And who is that man?" She pointed towards Tobirama not quite looking at him.

"A Senju. He brought you here."

"Why don't you attack him?!"

Madara held in a sigh. "We formed a village. I cannot. He's the brother of the current leader."

Komachi considered Tobirama with narrowed eyes. "A genjutsu then?"

"Bastard wouldn't look into my eyes." If there was something Madara enjoyed in this situation then it was the increasing irritation painted on Tobirama's face. They were speaking over his head and he loathed being unacknowledged especially when he was displaying his craft. "He had fought long enough against us to know that Sharingan casts genjutsu in a blink on the eye. Every Sharingan… Even the weakest one…"

"I see," said Komachi demurely, her eyelashes down. "In that case, Senju," she spun to face Tobirama. She put so much hate in the word 'Senju' that Madara heard from her mouth only directed at himself.

Tobirama jerked his head making contact with Komachi's eyes. And froze.

Komachi swayed on her feet but managed to keep herself up. She crossed the room in five shaky steps, grabbed Tobirama's chin and turned his head towards Madara.

"Deepen it. I think I've managed just the thinnest of layers." The red of her Sharingan had already faded.

Madara activated his Mangekyo and dove into slanted, reddish eyes of the Senju. He had half of mind to push him into a world of torture, but this will have to wait. For now, Madara only deepened the paralysis.

"I will have him release you right away. I'm sorry that your peace has been disturbed because of me. Again."

Madara looked into Tobirama's foggy eyes and folded his hands into the release seal.

"Wait a moment!" interrupted Komachi. "Not yet. If I'm already here… We didn't part in peace and now, from the other side, I see clearer all the things that went wrong… I see them so clearly, maybe that's my punishment."

"Punishment? It's not you who should be punished. I've killed you.."

"Don't get so full of yourself," she interrupted him. "That at least I did on my own. And you don't have to feel so guilty." Komachi smiled softly. "Have you been thinking this all that time? It would drive anyone insane. Oh, gods, how selfish it was of me." Komachi covered her face with her hands as if in sudden realization. "But I really thought you will be able to let go once I'm gone. You weren't?"

"No."

"Then I should be at least as much sorry as you are." Komachi's shoulders slumped as if under a great weight. "We did everything wrong, didn't we?"

"I guess so."

Komachi sat down on the dirty, grimy floor, with her back against the wall. Madara hesitated, unsure of what to do, and then sat down next to her. She searched his hand and squeezed it.

"I was so fixated on having things my way, on shaping my own life according to my will," said Komachi, "that I failed to notice that we are not the only driving force on the path of our lives. Things happen to people with no good reasons at all. I happened to you. You happened to me." She tilted her head to look at him. "For good and for worse. No plan, no fate, just coincidence. Chance. What if the door was closed on that day after Fugi's death? What if you were on a mission that day? What if I was running some chore in the kitchens? Chance… And I'm guilty of not making best out of it. I didn't try, you know? I've never honestly tried to love you… I should have had. And I'm sorry. Because it was me who wasted a chance for happiness for us both." She paused and when she picked up again, her voice was changed, as if she was holding back tears. "He… He made me say that I didn't love you. And it is true, but you know what? I wish I did."

"That's more than I've ever imagined to hear from you."

Komachi lifted herself slowly. "Maybe you could thank him from me?" she nodded towards Tobirama. "My burden is much lighter now."

"Mine is lighter as well. But he won't get any thanks from me. Not after what he tried doing to you."

"But he didn't tarnish me in any way. He could have never really touch me." Komachi looked at Madara and shook her head. "You're still so angry… You said that there's a village now? With the Senju?"

Madara nodded.

"And is your friend there as well?"

"Yes. Yes, he's here." Hashirama's presence was permeating everything within the new village's boundaries.

"I'm glad. Then maybe you can find something here that will make the pain of living worth it?"

Madara pursed his lips – the longer Konoha existed the more disappointed and disillusioned he was becoming.

Komachi must have seen it. "Give it a try at least. An honest try. Don't repeat the mistake I made." She took his hand again and rubbed it. "Will you release me now?" she pleaded gently.

.

Madara dragged unconscious body of Tobirama out of the hideout. He reapplied the genjutsu, making sure it will last several hours more, and for a better measure he bound the Senju to a tree.

Then he returned to the lab. He will burn this entire filthy place to the very ground. Then he will break into Tobirama's quarters and destroy every single artifact he will find there. And then he will tell Hashirama in what kind of jutsu his younger brother was dabbling. Madara was lucid enough to realize that all those measures won't erase this abomination. It will keep existing in Tobirama's mind as long as the bastard lives. Only thing that could be done was to prevent it to be passed down. Madara hoped that he could achieve at least that much.


End file.
